Lemieux was traded by the Winnipeg Jets, to the New York Rangers, on deadline day last February just as he believed he was starting to establish himself as an important player on the team.

“I definitely didn’t see them trading the style of player that I was at that time, going into the playoffs,” Lemieux said Wednesday after the Rangers practised in Tarrytown, N.Y.

“But, in this business you never know and that’s what they decided to do. I’m happy with how it ended up for me. I love it here.”

Lemieux, a 23-year-old winger, scored nine goals with the Jets in 44 games last year before being dealt along with a first-round draft pick, to the Rangers, for rental centre Kevin Hayes.

Lemieux had three goals and three assists in 19 games with the Rangers and believes he’s going to get a chance to have an increased role in 2019-20.

“It’s been a different role here,” Lemieux said. “I’ve played up and down the lineup, I’ve gotten a lot more playing time, a lot more opportunity.

“The team is growing with me as opposed to the team is grown and I’m still growing and I can’t catch up, essentially. That’s kind of how it felt in Winnipeg — I couldn’t catch up to the team.

“I wasn’t gonna be able to because there just wasn’t enough ice to go around. There were a lot of good, young players but there wasn’t enough ice for us. You can’t develop them all on eight minutes of ice, so how do you do it? You just don’t.”

Lemieux played three seasons in Winnipeg, the first two with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL .

He got to know a lot of people in that time and he admits the only thing that made it easy to say goodbye was that he didn’t have any time to do it.

“There were a lot of emotions, leaving Winnipeg, a lot of good friends that I have in the city,” Lemieux said. “I spent a lot of time there and then suddenly never going back … I still haven’t been back.

“But it’s been great, a lot of fun for me. I’ve been loving New York and I was welcomed with open arms here. It was a really positive change for me in my career.”

OLD BUDDIES REUNITED

Another former Jet now with the Rangers, defenceman Jacob Trouba, has fit in nicely in the New York locker room, partly because he already had a close friend on the team in his new defence partner, Brady Skjei.

The two attended high school together while taking part in the United States national development program.

“Personally I’m really excited to play with him at the start,” Skjei said, He’s a friend of mine and we’ve kept in contact in the five or six years since playing in the national development program.

“Once we got him, everyone knew I knew him and I told everyone what a great player and a great guy he is.”

The Rangers plan to make Trouba earn his seven-year, $56 million contract extension with big minutes.

He’s on the No. 1 defence pairing, the top power play unit, and will be killing penalties.

“He’s good at all aspects of the game,” Skjei said. “His best part is his defensive game. He’s hard to play against, he’s strong, he shoots the puck hard, his offensive game’s there, too, and he can play in all situations. He’s a steady defenceman that you can rely on at big times in the game.”

It will be interesting to see how Trouba plays in his first game as a Ranger on Thursday. It’s also his first home game, and his first game against his former team.

“I think he’s excited to get this one out of the way,” Skjei said.

EARNING THE MINUTES

Lemieux said the fact that Trouba always had to earn his minutes in Winnipeg with Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers also patrolling the right side of the ice has made him into a better player.

It took six years for Trouba to develop into a true No. 1 defenceman, and Lemieux said that was a testament to his patience.

“He had to wait his turn. He was behind Buff and Myers and there wasn’t really a way for him to step around them,” Lemieux said. “He needed more minutes to develop to do that and there just wasn’t those minutes available.”

Lemieux believes there will be lots of warm feelings coming from the Jets toward Trouba on Thursday, at least before the puck drops.

“Troubs was really well respected,” he said. “Those guys love him.

“That kind of stuff (a trade demand and contentious contract negotiations) is part of the business. I think people often think it has to do with city or this or that, but it’s business. It’s our lives. We only get so long to make money playing hockey and only get so long to try to win a Stanley Cup or set us up where we want to live. I don’t think guys hold it too hard against each other when they’re making life decisions like that.”

GOOD SITUATION

One of the main reasons Trouba wanted to leave Winnipeg was his fiancée Kelly Tyson’s desire to live and work in the United States as a doctor.

Trouba believes New York will be the perfect place for the couple, even though she is still finishing up medical school in Florida.

“It’s still a year or two away,” Trouba said. “She’s still in school down in Florida, but she can come here a lot more and hopefully get her career started here. Hopefully this is a place where we can be for a long time. That’s the plan.”

THIS AIN’T WINNIPEG

Finally, here’s Trouba on some of the changes of moving from Winnipeg to New York and living in one of the world’s biggest and most impressive cities.

“That’s definitely different. Having a car in your garage out the back door is something I’ve had my whole life but not here.

“I take the subway places and that’s nice. You always know how you’re gonna get somewhere and when you’re gonna get there. Those things are pretty much always on time. It’s just different.

“It’s fun, it’s a change of scenery and it’s a change of life, I guess.”

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